Self proclaimed computer guru | IT and Virtualization enthusiast.

This is a continuation of the article “Moving VM’s from VMware Server to ESXi/vCenter Pt. 1” which can be found here.

In this post we are going to start right where we left off in the last one. I assume that you have copied all of the necessary files over from your old VMWare server to your external drive. Once you have completed all of the steps in the previous article, we can move on. Unplug the external storage device from your server and bring it on over to your desktop/laptop/whatever you have the vSphere client installed on. Plug it in and copy the files over to your desktop, or wherever you would like to temporarily store them.

You will then need to download VMware’s free OVF converter tool. You’ll need an account with VMware to download the software but creating an account is completely free. You can download the software here.

Once you have downloaded and installed the software simply open up a command prompt, and make sure you note where you have copied the VM files on your computer. Then run this command:

This command starts the OVF converter tool. You point it to where your VMX files from your old VM that you pulled down are stored (C:\”Virtual Machines/New_WWW/New_www.vmx.) You then put a space between that file location and where you want the newly converted VMX to OVF to be stored (“Virtual Machines”/ConvertedWWW.) Almost done!

Here’s the easiest part of the whole thing. Open up your vSphere client and logon to the server that you want to deploy your newly converted VM on. Click “File,” “Import,” and then “OVF Template.” Point the new window that opens up to where your new OVF template is stored. Continue clicking through the dialogue boxes setting things such as datastores etc. until you’re finally ready to deploy the template. Give it some time and before you know it the VM that was on your old VMware server, will now be converted and moved over to your new ESXi server!

In the next article we’ll discuss some issues that can arise from this process.
Questions? Post them here!